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Supermarket launch parking bay police

Sainsbury’s clamps down on the misuse of parent and child parking spaces

Sainsbury's has launched a new scheme to cut down the misuse of its parent and child and disabled parking bays.

The supermarket has dispatched its squad of bay watchers in a blitz to reduce unauthorised parking, one of the top five frustrations for its shoppers. The uniformed 'monitors-on-motorbikes' will patrol 18,000 parking bays at 400 Sainsbury's stores and hand out £50 fines to offenders. The money generated will be donated to the charity Mencap.

"The vast majority of those who shouldn't be parking in these bays think that because they are just popping in for a few things they won't cause any inconvenience to the people who really need them," says Gavin Clarke, manager of Sainsbury's car parks.

However, parenting website netmums found that 85% of parents were angry about the illicit use of parent and child bays.

A trial of the scheme last year at 61 Sainsbury's stores led to a significant reduction in customer complaints and bay availability improved by 70% in three months.